Houston schools land Latino superintendent

By Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle

August 18, 2016Updated: August 18, 2016 9:28pm

HOUSTON — Richard Carranza, a bilingual career educator who leads the San Francisco school system, on Thursday became superintendent of the Houston Independent School District after a unanimous vote by trustees.

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Carranza and the board agreed to a three-year contract that pays him an annual base salary of $345,000, the district said in a statement. There’s no performance bonus the first year of the deal. The contract, which was not immediately available, also includes an agreement that Carranza and the board will come up with a performance incentive for the 2017-18 school year.

After signing his contract, Carranza shook hands and hugged the nine school board members as high school mariachi musicians played in the background.

In his first message to the community, Carranza said: “First and foremost, what you see is what you get. I’m a teacher.” He pledged to be visible in the community and to continue a tradition of innovation in the “world-class city.” He also addressed the crowd in Spanish.

Overall, the new superintendent is being paid much less than his predecessor, Terry Grier. Grier received an annual base salary of $300,000, but his total compensation topped $500,000 annually with performance bonuses and other perks. Also, Carranza’s base salary is lower than the $375,000 paid to the new Katy ISD superintendent, Lance Hindt, hired in July to lead the 70,000-student suburban district.

In San Francisco, Carranza was making $310,000 a year, and he had $25,000 deposited into a savings account after his first year. The contribution was set to increase to $45,000 in his third year.

His hiring comes just days before students return to class Monday, starting a new era in a district dogged by academic and financial challenges.

“I am confident you are going to make an extreme mark here,” district board member Greg Meyers said after the vote.

The Houston job will be Carranza’s second stint as a superintendent, moving from a 55,000-student district to the nation’s seventh largest, with 215,000 students.

Carranza, 49, a native of Arizona and the grandson of Mexican immigrants, is the Houston district’s second Hispanic superintendent, reflecting the majority of the student population here.